Page 29 of Fix You

At that moment, Caterina’s oldest brother, Raphael, strolled up to our table. Normally, the sight of a strange man caused me to recoil in either fear or disgust.

But there was something different about Raphael.

Something that made long dormant parts of my body stand up and take notice.

Something unnerving.

We had yet to be formally introduced. From out of the corner of my eye, I’d watched earlier in the evening as Caterina pointed me out to him. Unlike my own brothers who would do business with the Nerettis, Callum hadn’t deemed it necessary to make any introductions.

As I’d sat alone at the table, I couldn’t keep my eyes off Raphael Neretti. Of course, I’d had to be secretive about it. Especially since he seemed to keep making eyes at Careen. I guess I couldn’t blame him since the dress she was wearing barely contained her boobs or covered her ass.

I couldn’t help feeling jealous of the way he’d been looking at her. Like he wanted to devour her. More than anything in the world, I wanted a man to look at me like that.

It didn’t hurt that he was one of the most handsome men I’d ever seen. His jet-black hair was swept back on the sides in a ponytail and hit just at his chin. Like my brothers, he was impossibly tall, and even though I was 5’9, I would still have to look up at him. His bulging muscles strained under the fabric of his white, designer shirt.

While his brothers were equally attractive, Raphael possessed something different than them. Maybe it was the charisma he possessed as the oldest and future leader. From watching the three of them, Raphael’s energy reminded me a lot of Callum’s while Leandro’s appeared like Dare and Eamon’s while Gianni appeared a cross of Kellan’s sweetness and Quinn’s stoicism.

A genuine smile lit up Raphael’s face. “I noticed your beautiful sister wasn’t dancing, and I thought I would ask for her hand.”

Before I could respond, Callum shook his head. “She doesn’t care to dance.”

Rafe’s dark eyes regarded Callum coolly before he flicked his gaze to mine. “Is that true, Ms. Kavanaugh?”

I opened my mouth to argue that despite my fears of strange men and judgmental stares, I most certainlywouldlike to dance, especially with Rafe, but Callum cut me off. “I’m the head of her family, so I speak for her.”

“She is of age, is she not?”

“Aye, but the answer is still no.”

“Callum, stop,” I interjected.

Rafe’s expression darkened. “Your refusal insinuates that I’m not good enough to dance with your sister.”

“It has nothing to do with you.”

He raised a brow. “I’d love to believe that. But one might argue with your prior behavior towards my sister, you giveme reason to believe that despite today’s meeting, you do not respect me or my position.”

“I don’t give a shite what you believe,” Callum growled.

With his jaw clenching, Rafe spat, “Perhaps we should settle this outside.”

“If that’s how you want to handle it.”

I had to stop this. I couldn’t let a fight break out over me. Especially not when it wasn’t warranted. Whatever tenuous alliance had been made between the Kavanaughs and Nerettis couldn’t be ruined by Callum’s overprotectiveness. I couldn’t let my father and Oisin win yet another time.

Without stopping to think of the repercussions, I shot out of my chair. My heart thrummed wildly in my chest as I thrust my hand out to Raphael. A swirling mixture of fear and excitement slightly choked off my air.

In the end, I murmured, “I would love to dance, Mr. Neretti.”

Both Rafe’s and Callum’s eyes popped wide. In any other situation, I would’ve found their dual reactions comical. But I kept my amusement to myself.

Once he’d recovered from his initial surprise, Rafe gave me a smooth smile, which caused my heartbeat to break into a mad gallop. “Please call me, Raphael or Rafe,” he instructed.

“I’m Maeve.” Warmth flooded my cheeks at the realization that he probably already knew my name from Caterina pointing me out. I quickly tacked on, “Just in case you didn’t know.”

Rafe and I stared at each other for a moment. The music and conversation became muted as I felt an invisible force binding me to him. Like we were the only two people on the whole rooftop. It caused my feet to feel rooted to the marble floor. My mind screamed at my feet to begin working. Finally, I lumbered forward.

As I started around the table to meet Rafe, Callum grabbed my free hand. When I stared at him in surprise, he said, “You don’t have to do this.”